We'd like to thank Bergen County Audubon Society for donating a huge bag of Milkweed seeds. We are planting them in several sites. As you likely know, Milkweed is a Monarch Butterfly's best friend.

More on Milkweed here.

More than 50 people were on hand for our Third-Tuesday walk at Harrier Meadow today, highlighted by a bird-banding demonstration by NJMC Naturalist Mike Newhouse.

Those who arrived at Harrier Meadow were treated to an up-close look at an American Kestrel. The rest of us got several (more distant) views of the kestrels, Northern harriers, Sharpie, Osprey, and Cooper's Hawk…

If anyone would like to put a list together, I'd love to post it.

More pix have been posted on this Facebook Page.

Who, is, this?

Clue and answer follow.

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Mike Britt reports: "Best birds [Sunday] were 3 Caspians on the flats at DeKorte. Also, both Yellowlegs, Long-billed Dowitchers, all three peeps, Semipalmated Plovers, Pectoral, dozens of Snowy & Great Egrets, Green Heron, several Osprey, Kestrel, Harrier, GW Teal, Shoveler, etc." (Thanks, Mike!)

Harrier Meadow is the site of next Tuesday's free nature walk,  run by the Meadowlands Commission and the Bergen County Audubon Society.

The walk begins at 10 a.m. at Harrier and — if weather permits — includes a free bird-banding demo by NJMC Naturalist Mike Newhouse.

You'll need a sign a standard liability release to go into Harrier Meadow, which is usually closed to the public. Download it here:  Download HARRIER Release.

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As you can see from these photos, Ron Shields is still on a roll in the Kearny Marsh.

Above, a Green Heron and friend. Below, and Osprey and a Pied-billed Grebe.

Mill Creek Marsh, earlier week. Monarch caterpillar. A little late in the season?

At Tuesday's NJMC commission meeting, long-time Executive Director Bob Ceberio announced he is retiring at year's end.

Although the announcement was not unexpected, it is still difficult for those of us who have had the privilege of working with him to accept that he is leaving.

Throughout his three decades with the Meadowlands Commission, he has had a profound and lasting impact on the environment in the Meadowlands, creating and executing a vision where both humans and nature not only co-exist but thrive.

When Bob moved to the Meadowlands as a teenager more than four decades ago, much of the region was literally a smelly dump, and the Hackensack River was so polluted that even barnacles couldn't hack it.

Ospreys breed here now, and there are too many egrets and herons to count. The Meadowlands is an ecotourism destination these days, with more than 280 species of birds seen hereabouts — and rarities seen on a regular basis. 

A lot of people have done amazing things to help the Meadowlands bounce back, and Bob Ceberio has been one of the key players in that revival.

It also needs to be said that Bob has been a champion not only of this blog from Day One, but, more important, the concept that it embodies: a celebration of the natural wonders of the Meadowlands.

Thank you, Bob.